
The Oldest Bank Building in the United States 
Ere^:ted in 1803 










Copyrighf 1912, by C. A. Hazlett. 



O T" "' -♦ *3*', ^ v., ^ 



Being Some 

Interesting Facts 

^^«/ PORTSMOUTH, N. H. 

Since the YEAR 
1824 



*- 



Published for yc Publick Goo^:* 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 

Id PORTSMOUTH, N. H. 
1912 



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In 1824 



WHEN the Piscataqua Bank, the predecessor of 
the Piscataqua Exchange Bank and the First 
National Bank, was incorporated in 1824, 
Portsmouth had a population of 7500 people. | 
It was even then an " Old Town by the Sea," ' 
for in the previous year it celebrated the 200th anniver- 
sary of its settlement. The town had five state banks with 
an aggregate capital of $860,000, a branch bank of the 
United States, and a Savings bank, which was receiving 
its first deposits. It had seven churches, seven school 
houses, one academy and 286 stores. It was using its 
first directory, published in 1821. The bridges to Kittery 
and New Castle had been in use but two years. 1824 
was also memorable, as the town was entertaining Lafay- 
ette on his second visit with the same enthusiasm that 
it extended to Washington in 1789 and to President 
Munroe in 1817. 




Living room 
in 1824. 



gCI.A320093 




Stage Coach. 



Mode of 
travel 
in 1824. 




mail stage ran to Boston and Concord on 
Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The 
postage for letters composed of one piece of 
paper was 6 cents for 30 miles, 12 cents for 
100 miles, 25 cents for 450 miles. It took nearly a^week 
for a letter to go from Portsmouth to New York. The 
postage on letters to England was 33 cents and upwards. 
Duplicates of letters were copied with a quill pen in let- 
ter books. 



Spinning 

linen 

thread. 





First Rail Road Train. 




HE first railroad train from Boston entered 
Portsmouth in 1840 over the Eastern Railroad, 
and in 1842 over the P. S. & P. R. R. from 
Portland. In 1844 three trains ran to Boston 
and two to Portland. A bell in the tower of the " Depot" 
was rung before the departure of trains. "When the 
lookout in the belfry saw the cars on Portsmouth Bridge 
he rang the bell. 




WOOD TANKARD 




WARMER 




Candle dip. 



Candle 
mould. 



Betty 
Lamp. 



THE Bank was lighted with candles and whale- 
oil lamps until over a decade after the estab- 
lishment of the Portsmouth Gas Light Company 
in 1850. Fire was obtained by striking flint and 
steel, and the spark was caught in a tinder box. The 
first practical friction matches were " Congraves " made 
in England In 1827. 





- CANDLE 

QUILL PEN •""SANDER ^^^^ffF' SNUFFER 

PEWTER LAMP 




WARM INS PAN 



REVIOUS to the death of the first cashier in 
1871 all the bank bills were signed by the 
cashier and president with quill pens. Ink on 
their letters was sprinkled with fine sand, and 
erasures with pounce. " Bank hours 10 A. M. to 1 P. M. 
and from 3 to 5 P. M. N. B. — The banks are not open 
Saturday afternoons after 1 o'clock." The Portsmouth 
Savings Bank ^as only open in its early years on Wed- 
nesday afternoons from 3 to 5 o'clock. 





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Fire Place, Clock and Chairs. 




|N imported glass-covered clock and the comforta- 
ble chairs still retained in the Directors' Room 
were purchased by the founders of the Piscat- 
aqua Bank. The marble-faced clock in the 
main room was for half a century in the Rockingham 
Bank. Its works are now self-winding being connected 
by wires to the Western Union Telegraph office and its 
accuracy guaranteed. Any variation is corrected hourly. 

There were eight fireplaces in the Bank building: 
open fires were used to heat the banking rooms of the 
state banks, and a cheerful open fire greeted the directors 
of the national bank at their morning meetings. Stoves 
had just been placed in the North Meeting House oppo- 
site the bank. No heat in the meeting house except from 
portable foot stoves until 1821. 




Fire Engine in 
us^ in 1824. 




N addition to the town engines which were sup- 
plied with water from buckets, there were 
three independent fire societies in 1824 • The 
United, instituted in 1761, the Federal in 1789 
and the Mechanics in 1811. The last two retain their 
organizations and hold regular meetings. Portsmouth has 
suffered severely from fires. On Dec. 24, 1802, 132 
buildings were destroyed ; Dec. 24, 1806, 14 buildings and 
on Dec. 22, 1813, 241 buildings covering 15 acres with a 
loss of $300,000. Bank buildings were destroyed in each 
of these fires. 



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Some old 
costumes. 





Adjoining Buildings of U. S. Branch Bank and Piscataqua Bank, 
Corner Pleasant and State streets. 




jAMES Munroe was President when the Piscat- 
aqua Bank was opehed in 1824. Only 24 States 
constituted the Union, all but Missouri being 
east of the Mississippi river. Daniel Webster, 
after nine years residence, had left the city seven years 
previous. Jeremiah Mason, Levi Woodbury and Ichabod 
Bartlett were the leading lawyers. Lincoln was splitting 
logs and Grant was an infant. No resident can recall the 
opening of the bank. Not till after the expiration of the 
charter of the Piscataqua Bank was the telegraph used. 
The first telephone message in Portsmouth was in 1879. 




Portsmouth Porch. 




jHE first overt act against Great Britain by the 
colonists was the attack on Fort William and 
Mary on Dec. 14, 1774, instigated by a letter 
to Samuel Cutt, delivered by Paul Revere on 
his first historic Vide from Boston to Ports- 
mouth, Dec. 13,1774, four months before his ride to Lex- 
ington. The first overt act against the United States Bank 
was the attempt to remove Jeremiah Mason from the 
presidency of the Portsmouth branch, instigated by Levi 
Woodbury, a political opponent of Webster and Mason. 







Fort Constitution Portcullis. 




An old time 
Merchantman. 




ANY directors of the bank were retired deep-sea 
captains. A decade before the establishment 
of the bank large fortunes were made by res- 
ident owners of privateers. In 1824 there were 
registered in Portsmouth 169 vessels. 

The famous steam sloop Kearsarge was launched at 
the Portsmouth Navy Yard October 5, 1861, and sailed 
Feb. 5, 1862, sinking the Alabama June 16, 1864, 




U. S. Steam Sloop Kearsarge. 




MAIN BANKING ROOM 



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Chronology of Portsmouth Banks 



New Hampshire Bank incorporated 1792, expired 
1842.* 

New Hampshire Union Bank incorporated 1802, ex- 
,pired 1842.* 

« 

Portsmouth Bank incorporated 1803, expired 1843.* 

Rockingham Bank incorporated 18 13, succeeded by 
Rockingham National Bank 1865, expired 1905.* 

Branch Bank of the U. S. established 18 16, closed 
1835.* 

Portsmouth Savings Bank incorporated 1823. 

Piscataqua Bank incorporated 1824, succeeded by 
Piscataqua Exchange Bank incorporated 1 844, succeeded 
by First National Bank 1863. 

Commercial Bank incorporated 1825, succeeded by 
Mechanics and Traders Bank 1844, succeeded by Na- 
tional Mechanics and Traders Bank 1865. 

New Hampshire Bank incorporated 1855, succeeded 
by New Hampshire National Bank 1865. 

Rockingham lo-Cent Savings Bank incorporated 1867, 
closed 1876.* 

Portsmouth Trust & Guarantee Co. incorporated 
1871. 

Piscataqua Savings Bank incorporated 1 877. 



•No successor. 



Number i in Treasury Department 
Nurhber 19 in Comptroller's Dept. 



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The First National Bank is number i in the Treasury 
Department. The $30,000 U. S. 6% bonds to secure 
circulating notes, sent to Washington on April 9, 1863, 
were the first received from any bank in the United 
States and its bonds were kept in Box No. i, by the 
United States Treasurer during the term of the original 
charter. The act to provide a national currency was 
approved Feb. 5, 1863, and on March 9, application was 
sent to the Comptroller to establish an association, and 
|> 1 0,000 was paid on March 25, 1863 ; articles of asso- 
ciation were signed April 16, to commence business 
May I St ; the articles were returned for correction to 
comply with new rules, hence the delay in the Comp- 
troller's department until July 2nd, when the charter was 
granted for nineteen years to May i, 1882. The bank 
opened July 7, 1863, being number 19 on the Comp- 
troller's books. 




Pisoataqua 
Bank Key. 



United States Depository 



The First National Bank was among the earliest 
banks in the summer of 1863 to be appointed a govern- 
ment depository, and for nearly half a century has 
received the deposits of United States officials and 
furnished millions of currency for the large disburse- 
ments for the Navy Yard workmen, naval officers, ships* 
crews, and for yard improvements. When the govern- 
ment floated its loans the First National Bank took a 
liberal share in every issue and lent valuable assistance 
in placing U. S. bonds with the public. At the begin- 
niftg of the war in 186 1 the New Hampshire legislature 
not being in session, and no appropriation being availa- 
ble to fit out two regiments, the banks of New Hamp- 
shire tendered to Gov. Goodwin, the sum of $680,000, 
of which he accepted and expended $100,000 on his own 
responsibiUty. The bank of which he was a director 
was among the earhest to proffer assistance. 



Piscataqua 
Exchange 
Bank Key. 




Banking Locations 



The Piscataqua Bank opened its office in 1824 at the 
corner of Pleasant and State streets in the brick build- 
ing built by the New Hampshire Union Bank in 1814, 
after the third great fire. In 1835 it moved to the 
adjoining building on the north, vacated that year by the 
Branch Bank of the United States. In 1844 it moved 
to the present building, which it bought and occupied in 
common with the Portsmouth Savings Bank. The 
building was divided in 1 869, the First National Bank 
retaining the east half. The front was remodelled^in 
1882 and again in 1904 with the present granite front. 
The building as illustrated on the cover was as it appear- 
ed from 1803 to 1882. The main part of the building 
and vault remains as originally built in 1803. It is the 
oldest bank building erected and continuously occupied 
for banking purposes in the United States. Jeremiah 
Mason, Levi Woodbury and his pupil President Franklin 
Pierce are among the many distinguished lawyers who 
have been tenants in this building. It was built by the 
original New Hampshire Bank in 1 803 on the site of 
the gambrel roof dwelling the east half of which was 
rented by the latter bank at the time of the first great 
fire in 1 802 which destroyed the dwelling and banking 



room. 



Banking Notes 




The dividend books of the three banks are preserved. 
Regular dividends have been declared and paid every 
six months without omission for eighty-eight years. In 
1840 the Board of nine Directors consisted of: 

William Stavers 
William H.Y. Hackett 
William M. Shackford 
Samuel Lord 
Samuel E. Coues 
Samuel Hale 
Ichabod Bartlett 
Ichabod Rollins 
Ichabod Goodwin 

During the Russia-Japan Peace Con- 
ference at the Port of Portsmouth in 
the summer of 1905 the government 
of Russia placed large deposits in the 
First National Bank to the credit of 
Serge de Witte, Peace Commissioner, 
and his staff. 



^■liii 



• *• « »*•"«•_•»*• • 



Vault 

Alarm Post 
1912. 



Banking Sentiments 



It is the office of a well managed bank to so adminis- 
ter its affairs with reference to the well being of others 
that it shall always be ready to aid within proper Hmits 
legitimate enterprises for the public good. Benevolent 
institutions, societies, clubs and similar associations are 
invited as in the past to hold their meetings in the 
director's or committee rooms. On the walls of these 
rooms is a collection of old views and portraits that is 
worthy of examination. While the bank has referred 
with pride to its past history, it need not have recalled 
it to ,tell of its best days, for it now has larger deposits 
and more patrons than ever before. It claims that its 
methods are modern and up-to-date, and has all the latest 
appUances for rapid and accurate transaction of business. 
The deposit boxes on the main floor have been increased 
and convenient coupon booths provided. In the base- 
ment two fire and burglar proof storage vaults have been 
constructed and protected with the latest electrical de- 
vises and modern doors. The vaults are for the storage 
of trunks and bulky valuables. 

Reception and toilet rooms have been provided for 
lady employees and patrons of the bank. 

It issues travellers' checks of various denominations. 
These checks furnish identification' and • are cashed 
by banks, hotels, railroad and business houses all over 
the world. 

It wishes to assure every depositor, no matter what 



size the account, that the officers of this bank are inter- 
ested in his or her welfare, and that any advice on 
business and investment matters will be cordially given. 

Having every facility for the prompt and safe trans- 
action of business, it will continue to give the attention 
to the interest of its customers that it has for nearly a 
century. 




Vault Doors with Electric Protection. 



Chronology 



Presidents. 

Samuel Hale 
William H. Y. Hackett 
Ichabod Goodwin 
Edward P. Kimball 
John K. Bates 

Cashiers. 

Samuel Lord 
Edward P. Kimball 
Charles A. Hazlett 



1 824- 1 844 
1844-1878 
1879-1882 
1882-1910 
1910- 



1824- 1 87 1 
1872-1882 
1883. 



Long Semces 



The three cashiers were employed in the bank 53, 47 
and 40 years respectively. 

Five directors have acted on the Board 53, 51, 49, 47 
and 41 years respectively. 

For 80 years the bank messenger, his father and 
grandfather, have faithfully served the banks in this city. 



Organized 1824. 



No. 19. 



% 



First National Bank 

oj PORTSMOUTH, N. H. 

Directors 
John H, Broughton 
Henry A. Yeaton 

Wallace Hackett 

Charles A. Hazlett 

Joseph O. Hobbs 

John K. Bates 

Edward T. Kimball 

J. K. Bates, President 

C. A. Hazlett, Xreasuraf 

R. W. JUNKINS, ) 

E. C. Matthews, Jr. V Tellers 
J. M. McPhee ) 

* 
Katherine Sweetser, Bookkeeper 

i Alice M. Harden, Stenographer 



^ 2\s vsv 



Report of t/ie Condition of the 

First National Bank 



PORTSMOUTH, N. H. 



Condensed Statement^ 1912 



RESOURCES 

Loans and Discounts . . ^^42 7,360 38 

U. S. Bonds . . . . . 345*707 19 

Bonds, Securities, etc. . . . 195,060 54 

Banking House and Fixtures . . 21,940 75 

Cash, Due from Banks and U. S. Treasurer 174,446 46 

$1,164,515 32 



LIABILITIES 

Capital . . . . . $150,000 00 

Surplus and Undivided Profits . . 79,668 32 

Circulation , . . . .' 150,000 00 

Deposits . . . . 7841847 00 

$1,164,515 32 



ir 



Piscataqua Savings Bank 



PORTSMOUTH, N. H. 

Incorporated 1877 



Assets over $1,300,000.00 



President 
Charles A. Hazlett 

Secretary and Treasurer 
Charles W. Brewster 

Teller 
Lawrence B. Wright 

Trustees 
John H. Broughton Joseph O. Hobbs 

North Hampton 

Alfred F. Howard Lewis E. Staples 

Henry A. Yeaton Charles A. Hazlett 

Wallace Hackett John K. Bates 

Investment Committee 
Board of Trustees 



Bank Hours: 9 A. M. to 2 P, M, 
Saturday, 9 A. M. to 1 P. M. 



mSUL!^ CONGRESS 




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New Granite Front 1904 



